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Larson, Gallagher depict foster system in 'Short Term 12'

By Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News

Posted:
08/22/2013 06:36:57 AM MDT

Brie Larson poses at the premiere of the film "Paul" in Los Angeles, Monday, March 14, 2011. Larson and â œShort Term 12â film co-star John Gallagher Jr. each shadowed a foster worker for a day to help prepare for their roles. (Chris Pizzello/AP Photo)

“Short Term 12' is one of the most gripping films about human decency ever made.

It doesn't have a lot of competition in that regard. Those two words, “gripping' and “decency,' rarely go together in cinema. Somehow, though, writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton makes it work throughout his second feature.

He couldn't have done it without a superb cast, headed in this case by the young actors Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. Cretton may not have pulled it off, either, if he hadn't spent two years working at a foster children housing facility like the one depicted in the film.

“The interesting thing about all of these characters is that they are good people trying to be good people,' says Cretton, who grew up on Maui and took the job at a San Diego foster facility after his college communications degree proved unmarketable. “There is a lot of conflict, but it's all happening inside, in that struggle to be good to themselves and to the people around them that they really care about.

“It is a really difficult thing, and maybe that does stem from my own experience working at that place. What was happening inside of me felt like the most dramatic thing ever, but all I was doing was trying to deal with my own insecurities of feeling inadequate to do the job and do it well.'

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The film, opening today in theaters, was shot at a former foster housing unit in Sylmar. Larson and Gallagher play Grace and Mason, floor supervisors for its troubled, short-term residents. They're also lovers, perhaps because his ever-patient, upbeat personality is just the antidote for the occasional bouts of depression she mysteriously suffers.

Both display real affection for their not-much-younger charges (most of whom were played by kids with very little acting experience, some of whom auditioned online) and can-do aplomb whenever a kid goes ballistic. Larson and Gallagher each shadowed a foster worker for a day, and a former colleague of Cretton's taught a crash course in how the job is done shortly before filming.

“Listening to him talk and shadowing the people who do this, there is such an effortlessness to the way that they take care of this thing that is no small task,' notes Gallagher, who plays Jim Harper on HBO's “The Newsroom' and won a Tony Award for his performance in “Spring Awakening.'

“It's no small task to deal with these kids when they're flailing out of control and everything,' Gallagher continues. “So, that was something that we both brought into the movie, that whatever happens, it's just another day. When you're dealing with a story about professionals, it's always interesting to see that the professionalism comes out of it being just so ingrained in their DNA that it's just an automatic response to deal with situations.'

“Short Term 12' was itself a major professional step for Larson, who was a regular on “United States of Tara' and a supporting actor in a variety of recent films (“21 Jump Street,' “Rampart,' “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' and “Greenberg').

“In the simplest form, it's just the most adult role I've taken on in every capacity,' says Larson, 23. “It was my first graduation out of playing a high schooler or somebody's daughter and instead playing a woman, and a woman who was taking care of children. It was also the biggest workload that I've ever had.'

She credits a good part of her widely praised performance to the easy-but-sensitive nature of her director.

“It's a wonderful feeling when you can exist in the same room with a person and you don't feel like you have to entertain them,' Larson explains. “Especially with the actor-director relationship, my role is usually to entertain the director. With Destin, that wasn't the case, and it became a very interesting and mutually beneficial relationship on set. I didn't ever feel like I had to push anything or prove myself, squeeze out tears or do anything. I was able to naturally role the emotion, and he was very patient and respectful. And he was there when I needed help, which from time to time was a hug and a little bit of direction here or there. It was all very simple, really.'

What the cast keeps referring to as a “small and simple film' won the two top prizes at this year's South By Southwest Film Festival, and as of Monday had a rare 100 percent fresh, or positive, rating on the movie review aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes.

Larson can currently be seen in another acclaimed indie film, “The Spectacular Now,' and again in September when another film festival darling, “Don Jon,' is commercially released. Gallagher is deep into the second season of Aaron Sorkin's cable drama, and has high hopes that “ST12' will net him other indie opportunities.

Cretton developed “ST12' from a short feature he'd made in film school after working at the foster facility and debuted his first feature, “I Am Not a Hipster,' last year. He's working on his next script.

“At the beginning, I was just scared out of my mind, didn't know what I was doing,' he says of his time with the foster children. “By the end, it turned into one of the most important things that I've done, I really grew up through that experience. But I wasn't thinking, like, this could make a great movie one day. At the time, I was just trying to survive the work day.'

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